Give the Introduction to amino ACID and nucleotide metabolism ?

Here, we studied about the chemistry of proteins and amino acids. We studied that the amino acids are used for protein synthesis. Subsequently, we studied about the digestion, absorption and transport of proteins and amino acids. We learnt that proteins do not immediately diffuse into the surrounding tissues of the blood stream, but first undergo a series of steps of biochemical reactions in the digestive tract. These reactions reduce the protein into its individual amino acids which are rapidly absorbed into the blood stream. Amino acids contain nitrogen, which cannot be stored, and therefore amino acids', which are in excess of biosynthetic needs of the cell, are degraded. This involves the removal of a-amino groups (amino groups attached to carbon atom next to the carboxyl carbon) by two processes. What are these processes? How are amino acids catabolized in the body? What are the specialized products formed from amino acids and what are their biological functions? These are a few aspects related to amino acid metabolism discussed in this unit.

The second part of the unit focuses on nucleotide metabolism. Nucleotides are important for being precursors of nucleic acids (DNA, RNA). Here in this unit we will learn how the purine and pyrimidine bases found in the nucleotides are synthesized and degraded.

However, to understand the metabolism of nucleotides, it is essential to be thoroughly familiar with the nomenclature and the essential structures of the purine bases-adenine arid guanine; the pyrimidine bases-cytosine, uracil and thymine; the nucleosides and deoxynucleosidesderived from these; and the nucleotide and deoxynucleotide derivatives.